All 7 Uses of
defer
in
Bleak House
- things yet to come of those long-deferred hopes
Chpt 16-18 (definition 1) *deferred = postponed (put off)
- They know him there and defer to him.†
Chpt 19-21 (definition 2)
- …going on so smoothly and to think of the roughness of the suitors' lives and deaths; to see all that full dress and ceremony and to think of the waste, and want, and beggared misery it represented; to consider that while the sickness of hope deferred was raging in so many hearts this polite show went calmly on from day to day, and year to year, in such good order and composure; to behold the Lord Chancellor and the whole array of practitioners under him looking at one another and at…†
Chpt 22-24 (definition 2)
- …papa had tranquillized his mind by becoming this shorn lamb, and they had removed to a furnished lodging in Hatton Garden (where I found the children, when I afterwards went there, cutting the horse hair out of the seats of the chairs and choking themselves with it), Caddy had brought about a meeting between him and old Mr. Turveydrop; and poor Mr. Jellyby, being very humble and meek, had deferred to Mr. Turveydrop's deportment so submissively that they had become excellent friends.†
Chpt 28-30 (definition 2)
- ...he then defers to Miss Flite ... and at some length, she performs the courtly ceremony of presentation.
Chpt 46-48 (definition 2) *defers = submits or yields
- So he does it, though still with an indignant gravity that impresses the young Bagnets, and even causes Mr. Bagnet to defer the ceremony of drinking Mrs. Bagnet's health, always given by himself on these occasions in a speech of exemplary terseness.†
Chpt 49-51 (definition 2)
- After some further conference, Mr. Bucket (whom everybody seemed to know and defer to) went in with the others at a door and left me in the carriage, while the driver walked up and down by his horses to warm himself.†
Chpt 55-57 (definition 2)
Definitions:
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(1) (defer as in: deferred the decision) delay or postpone (hold off until a later time)
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(2) (defer as in: deferred to her wishes) submit or yield (typically to another person's opinion because of respect for that person or their knowledge)